By Nikhil Jitendran

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is out to make sweeping changes in the structure and functioning of the system in total. The latest of it comes in the form of a new mandate which directs centralized contract players to pay an annual fee as registration.

The Centralized Player Registration System, if cleared, would result in a windfall of Rs. 50 Lakh for the AIFF from the State Associations, Rs. 25 Lakh of which would be returned back when the system has completed implementation which was to be enforced from July 1st.

“The system will generate a unique registration system for all players-men, women, boys and girls after which the players would be considered eligible to play for any tournament. Currently the registration fee will be applicable for the men and boys only,” elucidated AIFF general Secretary Kushal Das to The Herald.

This new directive which has been equivocally approved by the Emergency Committee of the AIFF, is expected to be financially oppressive for all parties.

Now the Goa Football Association (GFA) has objected and asked the AIFF to reconsider the system, especially in light of the sagging registration fees to which even academy players have to be party. The registration system will also come at a time when all the I-League participant clubs are themselves in the red, with many having to cut down on their budget. The AIFF has indicated that the fees for registration will be paid at the start for the season in July, henceforth.

The GFA has, in fact, implemented a registration system for the players with only the Professional teams having to pay the fees at the start of the season while all the age-group events’ registration starts a few weeks before the championship.

The annual fee module is as follows:

15,000 for Professional Foreign Players

10,000 for Indian I-League Players

5,000 for Indian I-league Second Division Players

5,000 for State League Players

5,000 for Amateur Foreign Players

2,000 for State Association players

500 for District team players

200 for Academies (Age Group Players from 12 onwards)

50 percent of the submitted fees would be handed back to the state associations for undertaking development work. The fees for women and girls would be decided and indicated as per due course of time, explained Das.

The AIFF has indicated to all state Associations to list out the respective affiliated clubs and academies by a July 5th deadline.